Delightfully Ridiculous

Month: February 2010

MondayWe came home from work to find a pool on our kitchen floor and a slightly defrosted freezer. Craig took the opportunity to … spatula out the excess frost.It’s all we can expect from a $50 fridge/freezer.

TuesdayAfter another day of wearing my pyramid stud earrings, zelda fitzgerald ring, diamond horseshoe necklace, and chunky chain bracelet I decided that I needed to get out of my jewellery rut. So I put the aforementioned in a special box and challenged myself to wear completely different jewellery on Wednesday,

WednesdayMy darling husband had to work late. So I caught the train and then walked up the hill. It was really quite lovely, golden hour with the sun at my back.

ThursdayStrange strange weather. Pouring with rain when we left home in the morning but by midday it was blazing sun.

FridayI donated to cancer research and received this lollipop in return. I find his little printed face and overalls inestimably creepy.

SaturdayCraig and I went to an exhibition (or 3) at Te Papa then went for a walk along the waterfront.I loved that someone had corrected this sign!

MondayI wore bright bright red lipstick to work. It tasted like watermelons (inexplicably) and made me very happy.

TuesdayAn astounding sunrise. Orange sherbet skies.

WednesdayI took the day off work (to go to the Doctors and the hairdressers. And because I could) and saw this horrific diseased (I’m guessing) plant on my way back home.Edit: one of my many superheroesque friends, in this case Eco Ray, has pointed out that this is a natural discolouration on a willow tree. I maintain that a natural discolouration that looks like blood filled blisters is CREEPY. But I am glad the tree is healthy.

ThursdayFeeling melancholy so I went and stood in the rain and took photos of pears on the tree in our backyard. What? don’t mock my melancholy.

FridayA note to self regarding headwear for Summer Shakespeare.In the end it was too sunny when leaving the house that I opted for my handbag-friendly beret instead*.

SaturdayDiscussing evening plans with Craig. We ended up going out for pizza and The Wolfman with friends.

* Incidentally, the play was wonderful. Measure for Measure. I auditioned but didn’t get a part (sigh) and while I think, naturally, it would have been better if I’d been in it, I still thought it was very well done and the girl in the role I had coveted? she did admirably. SIGH. It’s so hard to be bitter sometimes.

SundayI spent a grey Sunday with the Tudors in Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

MondayI put this creepy doll (from my grandmother) out in the day room. Adorably creepy.

TuesdayI walked down to the sea on my lunch break. It was lovely. I don’t know why I haven’t done it before.

WednesdayFinally, finally, finally, I did what I’d been intending since July 2008 – I decanted some of my Marc Jacobs Grapefruit into a little purse size spray.

ThursdayGraffiti in Masons Lane on the way to drinks with Petra.

FridayThere were too many people out on Friday lunchtime, in their costumes for the Sevens, and already drunk. I did like the carebears though.

SaturdayI walked all the way down the hill from Park place and along the riverbank into our little city.It was beautiful weather and I ducked through an opening in the trees to sit on the hot rocks and watch the water for awhile.

Oh, dear Internet, I have a confession to make.I slipped, ever so slightly, off the hiatus wagon (or, off my hiatus horse to use a painful punny metaphor).But I must preface.

On the 6th January I wrote, hurriedly & rashly, that I would purchase No More until 14th April.As I was writing the caveats our dinner dates arrived and I hit publish, sent a tweet, and thought more of it later.

But because I am (all too) rational, I knew that I would find a complete dearth of shopping difficult to maintain, and so my rushed caveats were amended thusly:

x No clothes. Unless repairing or replacing.x No books. None at all. Seriously. Use a damn library darling covetous self.x If a purchase is desired, it must be run past my moral compass (aka Craig).x If a purchase is made without approval penance must be paid*.x Penance is to be decided by said darling Moral Compass.x Charity is exempt.

And so, I have a confession. I have slipped.

1. This beautiful beautiful top which I had coveted from afar, then found at a reduced price. Darling Craig approved of a 10 day cooling off period & if it was still available? then it would be mine.

2. Wendy Brandes, my second favourite jewellery designer (sorry WendyB! NZ designers Meadowlark hold my number one, but you are still have the foulest mouth!) is donating a significant portion of the proceeds of her Teeny Genie necklaces to Janet, a blogger who lost her husband suddenly & unexpectedly to suicide. The thought of that terrifies me (Love you Craig!) and this was perfect. Charity, for someone I truly want to help** , & a reminder of the larger WendyB piece for which I am (still) fervently saving.

3. A lovely lovely bag, on sale from $219 to $80. In a fit of low blood sugar and high caffeine, I purchased it. Without running it past Monsieur MC. When I got back to the office we had the following email exchange:

To: CraigFrom: Sarah-RoseI bought a bag. A pretty bag which was down to $80 from $219.Please consider my penance. Covering dinner for your nights for two weeks? a week without V? something nefarious you decide? no penance as that was a really good deal?I wait with bated breath.

To: Sarah-RoseFrom: CraigPenance must be paid, I will take your comments under advisement and pass my judgment in due course.xxx

He deemed that covering 3 of his cooking nights was sufficient. That’ll be just annoying enough.

Sigh. Overall? I have to admit that, for me, I have done pretty well. I have four boxes of clothes, shoes, jewellery, ephemera to donate to siblings & charity, my wardrobe doesn’t bulge, my drawers are half empty, and I am getting through my “to read” mountain.It feels good. Much like this confession. Cathartic.

I feel hopeful for the next seventy days.And I certainly hope I have far fewer (0??) confessions to make.

* I did take holy communion at an early age and it seems something stuck. Ack!** By the way, I do want to help many people & support many causes & donate donate donate, but this one involves the purchase of jewellery & as such, is a grey area under the Charity exemption.

Can you believe it’s February already?I can’t. Truly, I can’t. It just baffles me.I think the reason that I’m having such trouble coming to terms with month 2/12 is that it hasn’t really felt like January down this end of the world. We in the Southern Hemisphere are supposed to have some semblance of a summer – admittedly a more temperate version than most other places in the WORLD – and yet Wellington has not had 2 weekend days of sun in a row since November and that feels like an eternity ago. And it is now officially completely unacceptable. If it goes on much longer … well, I’ll just pout. But I will WISH I could do something about it.

In other not-so-interesting news, dearest, darling, The Internet, I have become obsessed with an iPhone Application called Sleep Cycle. For $1.29 and a little bit of panic regarding crushing the phone in my sleep (NOT YET!) it tracks my sleeping patterns and … well, it tracks when I am sleeping deeply, dreaming, or sleeping very lightly. And then it wakes me when I’m pretty much awake already. Oh and it’s not arbitrary. You set what time you need to be awake – in my case, on exercise days, that is 4:30am (YES, I KNOW that’s early.) – and it chooses the best time in the preceding half hour to set the alarm off. Like yesterday! it woke me at 4:09am BUT! I did not feel drowsy at all. It’s like magic! Boring boring magic.

Ahh, I do not care that it was 21 minutes earlier than necessary. Anything that makes waking up at 4:30(ish)am easier is oh, just fine by me.

Yours in geekery, Sarah-Rose

p.s. February is my favourite month of the year. The weather is (or HAD BETTER BE) better than in January, I like St Valentine’s Day* which is precisely one month after our wedding anniversary, and I simply enjoy the number 2.

* The roots of St. Valentine’s Day can be traced back to the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year!